Slamdancin' Friday

On Thursday and Friday I worked for Slamdance an alternative festival to Sundance that is smaller and more independent. On Thursday we helped them prepare for their opening night party and as a reward we recieved tickets to the party. However, the five of us who are under 21 couldn't get in! It was terrible because later we found out that the whole cast of It's Always Sunny In Philadephia was there. Even more terrible because one of my roommates met the blonde from the show, "Dee" (I don't know her real name) was invited to her movie's opening night party and he is going to interview her and do his profile on her.

Yesterday, I went to Slamdance at 4. On the way there, I saw Christy Brinkely. At Slamdance I worked for 2 hours putting up posters but then I got to see two movies. I saw Mississippi Damned and Zombie Girl (reviews below).

Today I woke up to wait in the box office line at 6. We thought we would be the first ones there, but it turned out that people sleep over night to get tickets. There were hundreds of people that had gotten there at 12 the night before because Sundance releases some tickets to sold out shows the day of. However we waited in line for an hour and a half and it turned out to be sucessful. I got a ticket to The Carter (Lil Wayne's documentary) at midnight and the first showing of The Greatest (with Susan Sarandon, Pierce Brosnan about a family whose son is killed in a car accident) tomorrow morning.

So today I have an extremely busy schedule. At 11:15 I am seeing a block of short films. Then at 5:15- Cold Souls (a sci-fi movie with Paul Giamatti), then at 8, Paper Heart ( a mockumentary about love), then The Carter at 12. I'm pumped.

Mississippi Damned Review

This film about a black community in the deep south was flawed because it was filled with too much despair. The film is filled with tragic stories. For instance, each one of the husbands in the film is a gambler and unfaithful, one character is convicted of manslaughter, a rising high school basketball star is a petaphile who rapes his younger cousin, and there are even more depressing story lines. From the beginning of the movie the viewer is swamped with sorrowful scenarios and it doesn't focus on anyone of the stories in particular. The focus does not come until later in the movie when an aspiring artist that has a chance to go ot NYU. Also, because it was a lower budget film, there was no music, which made it even harder for the viewer to take. Although it ends on a slight note of optimism (one character gets to go to NYU with money from her aunts will) and the acting is good, this slightly uplifting ending is not enough to make up for the first two hours of tragic torture.

My Rating: 5/10 Bottom Line: Well acted and could be saved by some tweaking of the plot

Zombie Girl

This documentary filmed by three film school students in Austin, Texas is about a 12-year-old movie fanatic, Emily Hagins, who decides to make her own zombie movie. The film follows her and her mother on their two year project and captures every mishap along the way. The begining of the film is hilarious as some of the quotes from Emily and her friends are priceless. As the movie progresses, the struggle between Emily's over involved and over eager mother and the pissy pre-teen attitude of Emily becomes the focus. It is almost sickening how dedicated her mother is, at one point she says "I would do anything for Emily to accomplish her dream of filmmaking, even sell my house." At the same time, she can barely handle her responsibilities in making the film as she also works full-time and her high stress level is apparent as the filming of "Halogen" stagnates.
After the film, Emily and her mom along with the directors of the film answered questions for the audience. Emily and her mom both talked and acted exactly like they did in the film which brought a realness to the documentary. Emily is now 16 and has already in the post-production of her second feature, a ghost movie which had a $10,000 bugdet that see was able to finance through film grants and fundraisers.

My Rating: 7.5/10 Bottom Line: This is a should-see for aspiring young filmmakers and mothers and daughters alike